Medical doctors in Ondo State have called on the state government to address welfare concerns, lamenting that the condition of the health sector in the state is worsening.
The doctors, under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association and other affiliate bodies, said there was a need for urgent intervention by their employer—the government—to save the sector from total collapse.
Speaking with journalists in Akure, the state capital, on Tuesday, the state NMA Chairman, Dr Abel Alonge, said the sector had suffered years of neglect, leading to declining manpower, overstretched personnel, and worsening working conditions in government hospitals.
He disclosed that the number of doctors in the state had dropped by about 50 per cent over the past decade, despite a growing population, resulting in an alarming imbalance between healthcare demand and available personnel.
He said, “The number of doctors serving the state today has dropped by about half of what it was about 12 years ago. About 12 years ago, when the population of this state was also just about 3.5 million, today we have a population of about 5.8 million people, and the number of doctors has dropped by half of what it used to be then.
“They are also being underpaid. Not only that, there are infrastructural gaps. Many of the equipment we use today in many healthcare facilities have been in use for more than 10 years, some 15, 20 years, and there are some health facilities that do not even have the required equipment to
This post was originally published on this site.
